Educators Against Arming Teachers

Arming teachers or principals to protect Northwest Arkansas classrooms isn’t such a good idea, local educators said.

It would take an act of the Arkansas Legislature to allow a teacher to carry a concealed weapon into the classroom.

The state law on licensing and carrying concealed handguns lists schools, colleges, community colleges or universities among the places where handguns are forbidden. The prohibition also includes events on school property.

At A Glance

Concealed Handguns in Arkansas

Arkansas lawmakers passed a law allowing the concealed carry of handguns in 2007. The law outlines the requirements to get a permit and authorizes the Arkansas State Police to issue them. Section 5-73-306 lists places where concealed carry is restricted, including police or sheriff’s station; Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department facility or grounds; detention facilities or prisons; courthouses or courtrooms; polling places; government meetings; any state office; any athletic event; businesses where beer or light wine is consumed on premises, except restaurants; airports; churches; parades; or, any place prohibited by federal law.

Source: Arkansas State Police And Arkansas Concealed Handgun Carry Law

Teachers need to be engaged in teaching, learning and attending to the social and emotional needs of students, said Michael Poore, Bentonville superintendent.

“I don’t think it’s a smart thing to do,” Poore said in response to the national discussion on arming teachers and principals to protect students.

The idea has been proposed in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., two weeks ago.

“It’s a bad recipe,” Poore said.

Poore said he has received some email and a few phone calls about placing metal detectors in schools or assigning more school resource officers, “but no one is suggesting arming teachers.”

Other administrators voiced similar views Friday.

Ashley Siwiec, spokeswoman for Rogers School District, said, “There would need to be a lot of discussion by the administration and School Board to think through all the issues relative to this.”

Vicki Thomas, Fayetteville superintendent, said police officers, such as school resource officers, are well trained and equipped to better handle a situation involving an armed intruder in a school building.

“They are the trained professionals,” Thomas said. “We’re fortunate to live in a community with a good partnership with the police. We have good plans in place and we need to work the plan.”

Fayetteville has two resource officers at Fayetteville High School and one at the Agee-Lierly Life Preparation and Services center, Thomas said.

Tracy Bratton, principal at Asbell Elementary School, said she was focused more on reviewing the crisis plan for her school in the days following the Connecticut shooting. She hasn’t given much thought to the proponents, nationally, who think teachers should be armed.

Tim Hudson, president of the Fayetteville School Board, said he’s had informal conversations with acquaintances, but hasn’t heard directly from patrons about what they would like to see the district do.

“Personally, I don’t like the idea of that responsibility placed on school employees,” he said of the idea to arm teachers.

The situation, he said, is more about mental health issues and is not limited to schools. He noted a shooting in an Oregon shopping mall just days before the Connecticut shooting.

Someone determined to do bodily harm to others in a school, theater or shopping mall will find the means to do so, regardless of armed personnel, he said.

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